Diary of an Arcade Employee

Pepe Le Pew

Welcome back friends to another installment of Toon In. The second for this week but I felt with the audio treasure posted earlier this week a more traditional Toon In offering was in order. That is why I have chosen a 1949 Looney Tunes animated short, which won the 1949 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film – the first for Director Chuck Jones.

As you can see from the image at the top of the post and even without it I am sure you could have guessed by the pun in the title – this short features the romantic antics of Pepe Le Pew.
The story in For Scent-imental Reasons find the propietor of a perfume shop shocked to discover that Pepe is within helping himself to his wares. Due to the bad timing of a friendly feline she finds herself locked in with the amorous Le Pew, who mistakes her for a fellow skunk when a bottle of white hair dye is tipped over and its contents leave a stripe down her back and tail. So begins the chase…one that has a surprising outcome when Pepe gets what he wants.

Mel Blanc naturally provides the voice of Pepe and the other characters within the short but there is a surprisingly large and hilarious chunk where there is no dialogue, as Le Pew attempts to coax his intended love out of a glass case. This scene while intact in the video below is usually edited out when shown on TV…for a rather obvious reason.

So please join us and Toon In and enjoy 1949’s For Scent-imental Reasons!